"I--I"ve got her!" she croaked. At the same time a man caught Amy by the arm, and stifled her impending cry in the same manner.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE OLD CRONE PLACED HER HAND OVER BETTY"S MOUTH.--_Page 162._
_The Outdoor Girls at Ocean View._]
CHAPTER XXI
ON THE SCHOONER
Betty Nelson was an unusually muscular girl. She and her outdoor chums had not lived so much in the open air for nothing, and taken long tramps and regular physical exercise. They had played basketball, tennis and golf, and though their arms looked pretty in evening dresses, there were muscles beneath those same beautifully tanned skins.
For a moment Betty was so surprised at the suddenness of the attack that she could do nothing. She had had but a momentary glimpse of the face of the old crone, and only for that she might have thought it was the boys, who had stolen up behind her and Amy, and had put their hands over their eyes to make them guess who had thus blinded them.
But in an instant Betty knew this was no friendly game. And so, as soon as she realized that, she began to struggle, and to some good purpose.
She managed to pull from her mouth the horrible, fishy-smelling hand of the old woman, and then Betty screamed as she endeavored to loosen the grip the old crone had on her arms.
"Help! Help!" screamed Betty. "Let me go! How dare you! What does this mean? Amy, where are you?" for Betty could not, for the moment, see her chum.
But poor Amy was not as muscular as Betty, nor did she have the advantage of battling against a woman, for a man had caught her, and held her in a cruel grip.
"Help! Help!" Betty cried again, struggling desperately.
"Be quiet! Be quiet, my little dear--little imp!" hissed the old woman, for Betty had struck her in the face. "Be quiet or I"ll----"
"Can"t you stop her screams?" roughly demanded the man. "She"ll have some one buzzing down on us if you don"t! Clap a stopper on her, or I"ll----"
"You must be quiet, my dear!" hissed the old crone, struggling to infuse some measure of conciliation in her cracked voice. "Be quiet or----"
"I"ll not! Let me go! How dare you! Help! Help!" screamed Betty, but, even as she called, she realized how hopeless it was, for she saw no one in sight and the thunder of the surf would not permit her cries to carry far. She tried to get a sight of Amy, but could not.
"Let me--let me----" panted Betty, and then, though she struggled with all her might, making the old woman pant and hiss to overcome her, Betty found herself being gradually exhausted. Again that horrid hand stole over her mouth, making her feel ill, and effectually shutting off her cries.
"Quick!" panted the old woman. "I can"t hold her much longer. You"ll have to tie her--or--something."
"I"ll do _something_, all right!" said the man, significantly. He was having little trouble with poor Amy, who had yielded like some broken flower. "I"ll just tie this one up, and then take care of her," the fellow went on.
Betty had a glimpse of his dark and brutal face and she shuddered. It was bad enough to have him touch Amy, and bad enough for the old fishwife to clasp Betty in her horrid arms, but Betty thought she surely would die if that man approached her.
She tried to speak--to say that she would not scream again if they would only tell what they wanted--take her purse and its contents--but only let her alone. But she could only mutter a meaningless jumble of sounds with that fishy hand over her mouth, pressing cruelly on her lips.
"Can you carry her, and keep her from screaming?" asked the man, who had pulled some cords from his pocket and was quickly tying Amy"s hands.
Then he fastened a rag over her mouth, and poor Amy, who came out of a half-faint, was too late to add her voice to Betty"s.
"Carry her--no, she"ll struggle like a cat!" muttered the old woman.
"You"ll have to help."
"Help! Haven"t I got my hands full?" he demanded. "Where are some of the others? They ought to be back now. They knew this chance might come any time."
"They have been lying in wait for us," thought Betty. It was one of the many ideas that raced through her brain at express-train speed. "That is why this old woman wanted us to come to her hut."
"There"s some one now!" exclaimed the man, leaning up from having put a cord around Amy"s ankles as she lay on a sand hill.
"If it isn"t some one she"s brought by her yells," snarled the fishwife.
"No, it"s Jake, thank goodness!" muttered the man, as a rough-looking specimen, the counterpart of himself, peered around a dune. "Get busy here, Jake, and truss up that other--cat!" the first man ordered.
"All right, Pete," was the answer. "Got any rope?"
"Here"s some," and the one addressed as Pete kicked over some net-cord toward the newcomer.
Meanwhile Betty had desisted from her struggle to get loose. She was strong and wiry, but the old crone was more than a match for the Little Captain. The fisherman"s wife seemed to know how to handle struggling persons, for she held Betty in a peculiar grip that was most effective.
Bend and strain as Betty might, she could not break away, and that hand was still held over her mouth, preventing any further outcry.
"Just a minute now, Mag, and I"ll have her safe," went on Jake, as, with practiced hands he whipped several coils of cord around Betty"s wrists and ankles.
"Stop! Stop!" she implored as the woman"s hand was taken from her mouth for a second. It was poor Betty"s last chance to appeal, for, an instant later, a fold of ill-smelling cloth was put over her lips, and she was effectually gagged. Tears of shame, rage and fear came into her eyes.
"Now you can carry her, without any trouble," announced Jake, rising.
"Take "em up to the shack," ordered Pete. "Then tell the others to get the boat ready."
Betty wondered what that meant. Were they to be kidnapped? She tried to look at Amy, but could not see her just then.
A moment later she felt herself being lifted up between the two men. It was useless to struggle.
Amy was much lighter than Betty, and was hoisted up to the shoulder of the old crone, who seemed wonderfully strong.
"Take a look out, Mag, and see if any one"s in sight before we make a dash for the shack," directed Pete. "Her screams may have been heard.
She yelled like a banshee!"
The fishwife, carrying the limp figure of Amy, peered beyond the line of sand dunes.
"No one in sight," she muttered, beckoning the others to advance.
"But what gets me is where the other two are," growled Pete who, with Jake, was carrying Betty. "There"s four of "em, and they"ve always been together ever since they come down here. Where are the other two? That"s what I"d like to know."
Betty shuddered as she thought of Mollie and Grace sleeping in the little clump of trees. Suppose these horrid men should go back there and find them. It was horrible to contemplate.
"Well, you"ve got half of "em. That ought to be enough for what you want," said Jake, hoa.r.s.ely chuckling.
Betty was puzzling her brains, trying to think why she and Amy had been thus captured. What object had the old fisherman and, too, why had the old crone been so eager to get them to her hut? Betty could only guess.
Her head ached. She felt really ill, and could not doubt but that poor Amy was in like condition.